New driveway

[jenkinsph]

I appreciate all these suggestions. I think that where the road passes through the open fields I'll take Eddie's suggestion and use discs and a harrow. The soil is quite sandy and well drained so I just need to smooth it out. Maybe a grader or a York rake for the final smoothing?

The stretch through the woods is more problematical. It sounds as though any backhoe small enough to fit my tractor (JD 3320) would not be up to the task of removing the number of stumps in the woods (20 to 30 though none larger than 6"). I do have some earth I could use when I improve a pond in one of the fields so I'll
try bringing buckets of earth in the FEL which SWMBO rakes it out. We'll see how long my patience (and her back) lasts.

A small backhoe can dig out those stumps, in most cases I know that my 110tlb can dig an average 6" stump in about 5 minutes.
You can haul in the fill but if you cut the ditches on either side of the trail and use the dirt from these ditches to raise the roadbed you would have the majority of the fill you would need.. This is a simple cut and fill approach that accomplishes just what you need, the roadbed higher than the ditch allowing drainage.

 

[irvingj]

20 to 30 though none larger than 6" -- If that's the case, yes, a backhoe on a small tractor could do it-- but it would take some time, too.

I'd vote for the dozer-for-a-day route. (Maybe even 1/2 a day!) I think it would be $$ well spent. A good operator can do amazing stuff with a dozer in a very short time.

 

[yellowdogsvc]

pictures would be helpful.. I would invest in a skid steer (I like Bobcat) and land plane and bucket with a tilt tatch. Makes repairs easy. If you can afford a compacter, that will help but you can rent those and a lot of other attachments.

I build roads for a living as well as maintain a couple of miles of my own roads and trails and I tried it with a tractor, dozer, and settled on only my Bobcat and occasionally blading it with my excavator.. Seems the Bobcat was the fastest way to make repairs and spread base short of having a grader brought out. Tried that too... Too big, too expensive.

 

[dougrout]

I'll try to take a few pictures tomorrow. I would like to remove most of the stumps before bringing in any fill. Has anyone tried a stump grinder. Some of the ones I've seen on YouTube look effective.

 

[Chilly807]

We rented one from Home Depot. It was the day from ****..

Sean

 

[dougrout]

We rented one from Home Depot. It was the day from ****..

Sean

Was this a hand held stump
Grinder? What happened?

 

[jenkinsph]

I'll try to take a few pictures tomorrow. I would like to remove most of the stumps before bringing in any fill. Has anyone tried a stump grinder. Some of the ones I've seen on YouTube look effective.

I would not leave stumps in the roadway either move the road or remove the stumps. These stumps will gradually rot and leave holes in your road and you will have to dig deep to cut out these potholes they form. Do it once and do it right.

Something to consider about the logistics of moving fill dirt is the volume and distance you need to move it. If you use the spoils from the ditch on either side of your road you are moving the material about 10 ft approximately, when you haul from a pile on your property the distance is much greater, making it a slower process and at more cost.

You will still need some base course and gravel to top the road off if it needs to be usefull year round.

 

[Chilly807]

Was this a hand held stump
Grinder? What happened?

It was a 15 HP model on wheels. Took us almost 10 hours to grind 4 big stumps. Not an effective tool, at least that one wasn't.

Sean

 

[crazyal]

A stump grinder will work fine but get one from a real rental company. The one I rented had a 4 cylinder Ford engine in it and you basically pulled it home with a truck and backed it up to the stump and with-in minutes the stump was shredded.

 

[Glen Watkins]

Another vote for getting rid of the stumps. Mini Ex. for a day or hire an Operator for a day to do it for you!

 

[dougrout]

We spent some time on the road through the woods today. We've decided in the short term to widen the route and to use chips from the brush to even out the path. We'll leave the stumps and roots for now, but I can see the need for a tractor backhoe in the future. There is a pond in the field north of the path through the woods that I'd like to enlarge so we could use the earth from that project to add to the path.

I'll try to add a couple of pictures I took today.

 

[AGGIE00]

Hire out a dozer for a day. I know it's hard to spend the money when you have a tractor that could accomplish the job over a long time and many headaches, but at the end of the day you will be glad you did. I have a 80hp tractor with fel, boxblade, and 3cy scraper and still find the need to rent a dozer sometimes. A skidsteer is no way to blade a road, a boxblade will not cut a ditch, and a backhoe will only remedy your stump issue as far as the road goes. The one item I would buy for your road is a land plane to maintain it after a dozer constructs it.

 

[Gordon Gould]

I have some good roads and also a lot of poorer roads like yours that I use for skid roads. From my experience I have found that if I just work with the existing organic soil and make a smooth road it will not stay smooth. I will always get rutting and soft spots and mud holes. But if the stumps and rocks are gone it is easy to resmooth it just by draging something on it. If I leave the stumps in and cut them at ground level they will eventually yet janked out but it takes a while. But it is hard to smooth the road with them there. I also will fill holes and low spots with sawdust and debris from firewood landings but it is not a perminent smoothing fix. It is just more organic material that with time rots down and turns to mud because it is in a hollow that holds water.

I guess what I am trying to say is that what you are doing to smooth your road is fine. I can understand, especially when face with 3/4 mile. But just be aware that you will probabaly have to do it again next year or next time it rains hard. It will help if every time you use the road you drag something wide down it.

If you want a perminent good road follow the good advise that was given in the earlier posts.

 

[adjusterr]

Save yourself a lot of grief and time, hire a local excavator to put your initial road in, it will probably be complete in a few hours with no wear and tear on your tractor. In Western Maryland we cover the road with blue shale as a base then use dirty crusher run gravel as a finish. Last year I stumbled across two items that have made my tractor work a lot easier. The Bro-Tek Thumb bolts on the boom of your hoe and works in combination with the bucket to pick up rocks, stumps, trees etc. The other item is a "Ratchet-Rake". It is sold by Tractor Supply and fastens on the cutting edge of your bucket and is great for leveling and maintaining roadways, also great for brush and small tree/bush removal. To see these items, just Google the names and check out the videos. Both items are inexpensive and work perfectly.

 

[dougrout]

Some great ideas lately. My "road" is really only intended to be a three season trail for tractor (and ATV when I get one), so it doesn't need to be super smooth (site isn't smooth yet even after adding wood chips).

If I want the driveway to be gravelled and more like a real road then I'll take the advice of so many of you and get someone in with a dozer to do a proper job.

A related issue - there is a pond at the north end of the trail as it exits the woods. I would like to enlarge the pond, and thought of using the earth to build up the road. Could I use a box blade to clear off the sod and drag up earth from the edge if the pond? I have never used a box blade before but it sounds as though it might be a useful implement to use for my driveway too (a real gravel driveway from the road to my house). If a box blade would be useful what brand would you recommend and how big should I go for my JD 3320?

 

[jbos333]

Hi dougrout,

My new driveway was a little less than 500' long, but I am glad I hired out the dozer work at least. I realize you have lots more to deal with. I got a couple of bids to do a complete, turnkey job including tree removal. Those were $6000 give or take.

I wound up plotting out the route, cutting the trees myself, leaving about 1-2 ft of stump for the dozer guy. Got the dozer work done for $475.00, installed fabric, got about 300 tons of bank run gravel delivered, spread it with my cut back blade, I think I have about $3000 into it. Turned out nice.

 

[dougrout]

Hi dougrout,

My new driveway was a little less than 500' long, but I am glad I hired out the dozer work at least. I realize you have lots more to deal with. I got a couple of bids to do a complete, turnkey job including tree removal. Those were $6000 give or take.

I wound up plotting out the route, cutting the trees myself, leaving about 1-2 ft of stump for the dozer guy. Got the dozer work done for $475.00, installed fabric, got about 300 tons of bank run gravel delivered, spread it with my cut back blade, I think I have about $3000 into it. Turned out nice.

Good information - the dozer seems reasonable. What was the fabric for?

 

[jbos333]

Fabric- Geotextile fabric- keeps driveway material from "sinking" especially if you have soft spots. Saves you from getting potholes later on and having to add more material. Some people have used discarded carpet to do the same, I don't know how well it works, though. Comes in a 12.5' wide roll, cost was around 1.00 per linear foot.

 

[jbos333]

Some pics..... #1 and 2 just after dozer work, #3 you can see fabric in the background, #4 drainage for a low spot.

 

[dougrout]

Some pics..... #1 and 2 just after dozer work, #3 you can see fabric in the background, #4 drainage for a low spot.

Nice looking driveway - thanks for posting the pics